Tell me The story (Rewrite)
by Genie101
Summary: Completed story Socorro’s mother just wants her daughter to get to sleep and it seems the only way that is possible, is if Miguel agrees to tell Socorro a bed time story. The story of how Miguel went to the Land of the Dead and found out just whom their papa actually was.


"Mama please. Can't I stay up. Just a little longer?" Socorro begged her mother. She was in her night clothes and in bed ,but she wasn't settling down like she was suppose to. Her mother had struggled to just get her to stay put in her room and at this point was down right exhausted trying to keep her in here and more importantly get her to sleep.

"No. You need your sleep. Would you like Miguel to tell you a bedtime story?" Socorro's mother asked her gently.

"Yes." Socorro said excitedly bouncing some.

"Calm down mija. I'll make sure he does." Socorro's mother said walking out of her room.

"Miguel!" She Called out heading a very faint voice in response.

"You called mama?" Miguel asked his mother , rushing on inside after he heard her call his name. He had been outside playing with Danté again.

"Yes I did." Miguel's mother said gently.

"What is it mama?" Miguel asked curiosily.

"Miguel love could you read your sister a bedtime story again tonight?" Miguel's mother asked him gently.

"Sure mama. I can tell her a bedtime story." Miguel said proudly. He loved to tell his sister's stories ,only because she was quite a good listener and unlike the rest of the family she loved to hear about his various adventures in The Land of the Dead. Especially stories involving one Papa Hector. The young girl seemed rather drawn to him.

Miguel made his way to his sister's room to find her wide awake and sitting up right.

"Socorro you should be laying down." Miguel playfully scolded her.

"But Miguel. I'm not tired." Socorro said pouting her lip some.

"Would you like a bedtime story." Miguel said sternly seeing her eyes light up.

"Yes. Tell me the story about how you met papa Hector." Socorro said delightedly.

"I've told it a dozen or so times already. Do you really like it that much?" Miguel said then asked her seriously. He got quite the eager head nod in response to it. He chuckled softly sitting down next to her on the bed.

"Well, Let's See here. Where should I begin?" Miguel asked scratching the back of his head to think.

"Start at when you first met papa hector." Socorro said excitedly.

"You don't wanna here about how I got to The Land of the Dead?" Miguel asked mock hurt.

"That doesn't involve papa Hector at all." Socorro pointed out to her older brother.

"Fine. Fine. So There I was in the land of the dead. You remember how I got there right?" Miguel asked making sure she actually paid attention.

"You stole Papa Hector's Guitar on the day of the Dead." Socorro said hesitantly.

"That's right I did, however at the time , I thought our papa was papa Ernesto."

"You mean the guy that stole all of papa Hector's songs as his own." Socorro said a bit bitterly.

"The Very same. " Miguel said softly. He still couldn't get out of his head, that that man has tried to kill him.

"Didn't he still remember me?" Socorro asked.

"He did. Remember me wasn't meant for anyone except for mama coco. That's whom papa Hector wrote it for." Miguel said sadly.

"Oh…" Socorro said softly scooting closer to him.

"Okay now I wondered about some and wouldn't you know it, I ran into our family. After a bit of chaos we were at the station to figure out what to do. I didn't know it then, but the man before us was our papa Hector. See he was trying his hardest to come over and see our mama coco, but without a picture on an Ofrenda. He couldn't. So he did various things to try and get over here." Miguel said seeing his sister rub at her eyes some.

"Didn't he dress up like a famous painter Lady to Try and cross over here." Socorro asked gently.

"He did." Miguel said chuckling softly at the memory.

"Now then we figured out how to send me back, but the issue was, mama Imelda was dead set on me never playing music again." Miguel said softly.

"That's not fair. I'm glad our family isn't like that now." Socorro commented gently.

"Me too." Miguel said smiling down at her.

"Go on with the story Miguel." Socorro complained to her brother.

"Okay. Okay. I was devastated I couldn't be allowed to ever play music again, so I ran and while doing so, I happened to run into one papa hector. We devised a plan so I would see Ernesto de la Cruz and then I'd take his photo over. Only it didn't work out like that at all and it was far easier said than done." Miguel said rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Didn't you have to sing in a contest?" Socorro asked Miguel softly.

"That's right Socorro I had to sing and I was scared to death doing so. I'd never preformed given our family's old rule of no music." Miguel said sighing softly.

"Now just before I preformed Papa Hector helped me calm down and loosen up before I started to sing." Miguel added yawning some himself.

"Really?"

"Really. He had me shake my arms and a few others things." Miguel said not really wanting to belt out right now. It would make his sister hyper and he didn't need that right now.

"After I preformed they made an announcement about a living boy being there and that his family just wants to send him home. Wouldn't you know it papa Hector was furious with me. He actually yelled at me about it. So I Gave him back his photo and took off running." Miguel said gently.

"He was pretty mad?"

"He was very furious with me. To him family meant the world. He didn't even want to travel and perform with Ernesto at all. He wanted to go home to his wife and daughter. But Ernesto killed him. He poisoned him and then left him for dead." Miguel said seeing Socorro's face fall.

"That's mean." She said firmly.

"Very mean. Okay so I was finally at Ernesto' place and ironically he saved me from drowning. We talked and I actually enjoyed the party he was throwing. There were things all around us to keep even the most hyperactive child busy for days on end. " Miguel said slightly hating himself for it.

"What's he like? Ernesto de La Cruz?" Socorro asked shyly rubbing her arms some.

"That man is a low life and extremely self centered." Miguel said angrily.

"Then Just as Ernesto was about to send me home , in rushed papa Hector. He begged me to take his photo over." Miguel said feeling rather guilty about it.

Socorro yawned again.

"You nodding off on me?" Miguel asked chuckling softly.

"No... continue the story." Socorro whined as Miguel went to leave.

"Okay. Okay." Miguel said chuckling softly.

"Suddenly Ernesto got mad at me. His cool calm selected self was gone and in his place was a rather horrid mean man. Guards grabbed me and dragged me and papa hector odd. I got shoved into a cavern place with papa Hector. I was lucky papa Hector was there otherwise I'd have been all alone. I was so scared and so sad that I was never going to see my family Again." Miguel said sadly making Socorro look at him sadly.

"How'd you two react to being family Miguel?" Socorro asked softly.

"We were happy. I didn't know he was my papa until I showed him a photo of mama coco and mama Imelda. We were both in shock and then both fairly happy. But that didn't last long." Miguel admitted.

"Did you think you'd ever see anyone here again?" Socorro asked softly.

"No. I thought I was going to die there. Prior to papa hector and me finding out we are related, I was a sobbing mess. I was terrified that my family hates me and that they wouldn't put my photo up on the ofrenda, but Papa Hector calmed me down easily."

"Didn't mama Imelda find you?"

"She did and I will always be grateful for it. But I couldn't cross over just yet. I needed to get papa Hector's photo from de la Cruz. See as we had been dragged away, de la Cruz put papa Hector's photo into his jacket pocket. It took a bit to convince mama Imelda to do so, but she agreed to get Papa Hector's photo back."

"How'd you get it back?"

"Oh we had to sneak into a party of his." Miguel said chuckling softly.

"We dressed up like the famous painter lady you mentioned earlier and then took off to find De la Cruz."

"Didn't you find him in the oddest place?"

"You could say that. But I didn't find him. Mama Imelda did and wouldn't you know it, she wound up center stage and had to sing. Oh she has the most beautiful singing voice. Then Ernesto began to sing with her trying to steal back the photo of papa Hector she'd taken back from him." Miguel said shaking his head some.

"Ernesto suddenly where I was and he was walking towards me. Out of fear I walked backwards and without knowing it, I was backing myself to a cliff."

"Didn't he try to push you off of it?"

"He did. Lucky me mama Imelda's Animal spirit guide caught me. What I didn't know, was that the whole ordeal of Ernesto trying to push me off of a cliff was being recorded live to the audience watching his live performance. Wouldn't you know it they were furious with him." Miguel said remembering how relieved he had felt to not fall to his own death. That would have been the third time he almost died in The Land of The Dead.

"I was safe and sound but when I backed into the cliff I had had papa Hector's photo in my hand, but it slipped and I still feel bad about it to this day."

"Then what happened?"

"Well Papa hector he wasn't doing so good at all. See over there , there is a thing called second death. It's basically when there is no one left to remember you and put your photo up on an ofrenda." Miguel said shaking his head some.

"Mama Imelda sent me home, despite my protests of it. Papa Hector was dying again and I was guilt ridden because of it. The only good was this time mama Imelda didn't say to never play music again. So i was allowed to and thanks to this I was able to help mama coco remember her papa hector. The only way I knew how to." Miguel said proudly.

"So how'd you get her to remember?" Socorro asked rubbing at her eyes tiredly.

"I sang the song remember me. And you know what. It worked! She remembered him! And because she remember him, she remembered everyone else including her daughter." Miguel said fondly.

"She forgot her own daughter?" Socorro asked softly.

"She did. Mama coco had dementia as she got older. Her daughter our abuelita almost destroyed the guitar as I sang but our papa stopped her."

"Didn't she address abuelita as mija Miguel?"

"She did and out abuelita was so happy about it. Things were good for a tiny bit, until sadly mama

Coco passed away." Miguel said softly.

"Am I like mama coco Miguel?" Socorro asked gently knowing mama coco had been her name sake.

"The spitting image of." Miguel said softly helping to tuck Socorro back in.

"Now get some sleep Socorro." Miguel added flicking her lamp Off.

"Night Miguel." Socorro said smiling softly curling into her pillow on her side. Miguel waited a few moments to make sure she was actually asleep before walking over to her door and gently shutting it behind her.

"She asleep?" Miguel's mother asked him softly to not disturb the rest of the household.

"She is." Miguel said smiling some.

"Thank you mijo. Why don't you get to bed yourself." Miguel's mother said softly giving him a hug goodnight.

"Goodnight mama." Miguel said walking off to his own room for some sleep. He laid on his side and swears he could see papa Hector standing there hand in hand with Mama Imelda and Mama coco just as he managed to doze off.


End file.
